Five Reasons to Visit Weavers Wines

On the corner of Lister Gate and Castle Gate, behind a traditional looking red façade and hand painted signage, a born and bred Nottingham business has stood for an incredible 176 years. Today Weavers Independent Wine & Spirit Merchants is a thriving company supplying wines and spirits to private, corporate and trade customers throughout the Midlands and the UK, but it also holds a fascinating history.

The Visit Notts team were lucky enough to take a recent visit to this Nottingham gem. Perhaps it was the gin, but we were rather enamoured. Compelled to share some of its secrets, here we present some of the best reasons to visit Weavers.

1. Five Generations of Wine Experts

Weavers was first established in 1844 by a Mr Edward Cossal Weaver, beginning its life as a public house. Having managed the business for over 50 years, Mr Weaver sold up in 1897, before emigrating to South Africa, never to be heard from again. Since then, under the ownership of the Trease family, the business has evolved throughout the next century into a wholesale wine and spirits business. Today, along with their father Alan, the business is headed up by sister and brother Mary and Philip Trease, the 5th generation of the family.

If you attend a wine tasting at Weavers, you may be lucky enough to visit the Family Room on the first floor, which is dotted with fascinating memorabilia, from family heirlooms to the dozens of books written by Alan’s uncle, children’s author Geoffery Trease. Elsewhere throughout the building you can find photographs and ephemera relating to the Trease family’s extensive travels to wine regions of the world. The sense of ancestry here is so strong, you get the feeling that wine might just run in their veins, but in the least the expertise amassed over the past century or so is clearly passed down through the generations. Will a 6^th generation carry on the legacy? We shall have to wait to find out.

2. A Fascinating Nottingham Townhouse

You can't miss the Weavers shop, which gives off a charmingly traditional impression and is just around the corner from the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre. But Weavers have also acquired a much larger space in the past 50 years. Set behind a green door on Castle Gate and used for tastings and storage, this Grade II listed building is said to be one of the best examples of a Georgian townhouse in Nottingham. But what is behind the green door of Weavers?

The building gives a bit of an optical illusion to passers-by, looking much smaller than it actually is when you start exploring its various rooms and corridors. Breathing history, there are lots of fascinating relics decorating the walls and compassionately restored features throughout, all celebrating the heritage of the building and Nottingham itself. An early edition of the Nottingham Post newspaper (discovered when renovating the building) can be found in the hallway, along with lots of family certificates and awards. Upstairs, a piece of Victorian graffiti has been framed on one of the walls, too interesting to be wallpapered over.

There’s more to Weavers than meets the eye. The building is used as a distribution station and a warehouse to store wine and various other beverages, which are then sold in the shop, as well as online to be distributed throughout the country. If you dig a bit deeper you’ll find that the wine and champagne are also stored in the basement below the pavement level and, in true Nottingham tradition, in a cave too. Of Nottingham’s 800 or so caves, many were once used for brewing and storing of alcohol, and today building owners are once again seeing their charm. Scrubbed of all the cobwebs, the cave is now an inviting space which is occasionally used for tastings or explored on tours of the building.

3. Expert knowledge
 

Whether you are a novice with a budget or a wine connoisseur with a dinner party to plan, Weavers has your back. The small shop is stocked with an incredibly vast range of wines and spirits - over 2000 products in fact - and while on first sight this may seem a little mind-boggling, rest assured the staff know their stuff. Not only are they trained in-house, but their knowledge is aided by tastings, visits to suppliers, and diplomas by the Wine & Spirit Education Trust.

Along with a great selection of fine wines, Weavers sell many of your more everyday bottles, with prices beginning under £10 a bottle. If you want to find something to perfectly complement your Friday night take-away or homemade Sunday lunch, the staff will be happy to impart their knowledge and help you find something to impress your friends without breaking the bank, while for those with money to burn or a special occasion to buy for, Weavers is your oyster.

4. Independent Spirit

Whatever you are looking for, you’ll still get Grade A service when choosing your tipple in Weavers, and this is the beauty of visiting an independent shop. Many of the products are available to try a sample before buying, and there are often more informal tastings held in store on Saturdays. Weavers were recently recognised in the It's In Nottingham Independent Business Awards, receiving the Special Achievement Award for their long legacy and continual innovation. 

5. Gin!

Weavers have more recently branched out into creating their own delectable liquor with two brand new products, Castle Gate Gin. Intrigued? You'll have to wait - read part two of this blog coming soon! (Then get down to pick yourself up a bottle for the weekend!)

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Weavers is located at:
Vintner House
1 Castle Gate
Nottingham
NG1 7AQ

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This blog was written by Sophie Gargett and Kinga Kapias of Visit Nottinghamshire.